Barometers come off day's high; IT shares advance

Domestic barometers pared gains in mid-afternoon trade as profit booking emerged at higher levels. At 14:26 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 475.01 points or 1.52% at 31,802.23. The Nifty 50 index was up 147.30 points or 1.61% at 9,301.70.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index added 1.41% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index advanced 1.26%. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 1304 shares rose and 985 shares fell. A total of 175 shares were unchanged. In Nifty 50 index, 46 stocks advanced and 4 stocks declined.

Numbers to Track:

In the foreign exchange market, the partially convertible rupee edged higher to 76.25 compared with its previous closing of 76.46.

The yield on 10-year benchmark federal paper fell to 6.155% as compared with 6.167% in the previous trading session.

MCX Gold futures for 5 June 2020 settlement lost 0.03% to Rs 46515.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for June 2020 settlement was down 59 cents to $20.85 a barrel. The contract rose 11 cents or 0.51% to settle at $21.44 a barrel in the previous trading session.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty IT index added 2.7% to 13,170.95. The index slipped 2.38% to end at 12,816.20 on Friday.

MindTree (up 10.61%), MphasiS (up 5.42%), Hexaware Technologies (up 3.24%), HCL Technologies (up 2.52%), Oracle Financial Services Software (up 2.25%), TCS (up 2.11%), Tech Mahindra (up 1.91%), Wipro (up 1.83%) and Infosys (up 1.6%) advanced.

Mindtree announced decent Q4 numbers after trading hours on Friday, 24 April 2020. On a consolidated basis, the L&T Group company's net profit rose 4.7% to Rs 206.2 crore on a 4.3% increase in revenue to Rs 2050.5 crore in Q4 March 2020 over Q3 December 2019. Consolidated EBITDA for Q4 March 2020 stood at Rs 351.20 crore, rising 14.7% compared with Rs 3,063 reported in Q3 December 2019. EBITDA margin rose to 17.1% in Q4 March 2020 from 15.6% reported in Q3 December 2019. The board of directors have recommended a final dividend of Rs 10 per share for the financial year ended 31 March 2020.

Sasken Technologies rose 2.22% to Rs 459.95 ahead of its Q4 earnings release today.

Stocks in Spotlight:

RBL Bank (up 8.63%), Manappuram Finance (up 7%), Tata Consumer Products (up 5.87%), Bharat Forge (up 5.11%) and Balkrishna Industries (up 4.82%) were the top mid-cap gainers.

Tata Elxsi (up 11.52%), Just Dial (up 6.35%), Sobha (up 5%), Radico Khaitan (up 4.34%) and Karur Vysya Bank (up 3.88%) were the top small-cap gainers.

Bank of Baroda added 0.97% to Rs 46.85 after the lender on Friday said its board has approved raising up to Rs 13,500 crore by 2020-21. The capital raise will comprise Rs 9,000 crore by way of common equity capital by various modes including QIP, etc in suitable stages and Rs 4,500 crore by way of additional tier I and tier II capital instruments with an inter-changeability option, issued in India/overseas in suitable tranches, it said.

PNB Housing Finance fell 1.32% to Rs 205. CARE Ratings has re-affirmed the credit rating of company's bank borrowings, NCDs and Fixed Deposits at AA+ while revised the outlook to 'Negative' from 'Stable'.

JK Paper surged 9.69% to Rs 100.20. The paper manufacturer said its board will meet on 28 April 2020 to consider share buyback.

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